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WASHINGTON D.C. — The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) Foundation’s Global Innovation Forum (GIF) and Allied for Startups (A4S) today issued a series of recommendations to help inform the European Union and the United States as they seek to shape the transatlantic and global landscape to create tangible benefits for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and workers. The comments come in advance of the first meeting of the EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council (TTC) later this week in Pittsburgh.
“The TTC offers an opportunity for concrete deliverables that promote small business use of digital technologies, as well as a chance to bolster the shared commitment by the United States and EU to non-discriminatory rules and standards that promote a global ecommerce ecosystem,” said Jamaica Gayle, Deputy Director, Global Innovation Forum.
To support the work of the TTC working group on “how to promote small business access to, and use of, digital technologies,” GIF and A4S outlined key priorities, including:
- Enhancing transatlantic digital training and trade promotion for SMEs;
- Increasing government support to help SMEs adopt digital tools;
- Maximizing transatlantic small business access to the global e-commerce ecosystem; and
- Prioritizing the inclusion of women and minority-owned businesses in digitally-enabled trade.
“We applaud the launch of the TTC and encourage Presidents Biden and von der Leyen to leverage this critical opportunity. Let’s work together to enable the continued innovation of transatlantic businesses of all sizes by shaping non-discriminatory rules, and making it easier for small businesses to access the tools they need to grow and thrive in the digital economy,” said Melissa Blaustein, Founder, Allied for Startups.
Read the full recommendations here.
About the Global Innovation Forum
The Global Innovation Forum is a nonprofit effort to connect startup, small business, development, and university communities with policymakers and select corporations to explore the opportunities and challenges of engaging in the global marketplace. GIF serves as a hub for business, university and development communities around the world to communicate with officials and corporations, discover public and private resources to help them succeed, and improve the public policy landscape to enable global innovation. GIF is a project of the 501(c)(3) National Foreign Trade Council Foundation. For more information about GIF, visit the website at www.globalinnovationforum.com.
About Allied for Startups
Allied for Startups is a worldwide network of over 40 advocacy organisations focused on improving the policy environment for startups. Our mission is to ensure that the voices of startups are heard in government. For more information on Allied for Startups including a full list of our network, visit the website at www.alliedforstartups.org.


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5 Data Technology Resolutions for Retail Marketers in 2020
Retail brands have some work to do in the new year. According to a recent study conducted by WBR Insights, 64% of US retail professionals can only identify half – or less – of their website visitors. And over one-third say they can’t integrate their data technologies. That means they can’t accurately track customers across their buyer journeys or optimize campaigns for engagement and retention.
It’s no surprise, then, that retail professionals have big goals for improving campaign intelligence and data technology.
According to our study, these are the top five priorities retail professionals will invest in for 2020.
1. Adopt deep learning capabilities
Retail brands are hoping to use deep learning technologies, such as artificial intelligence, to enhance marketing strategies. With these technologies, marketers will be able to automate data collection and categorization, and more rapidly and effectively reach customers with personalized campaigns in real time.
2. Find future buyers using unique first-party data
Marketers plan to use non-traditional first-party data sets to identify and engage prospective buyers. These data sets can target customers based on a range of factors, such as interest in specific product features, delivery preferences, and financial standings. For example, one marketing professional in home furnishings is set to target millennials who are interested in new products but want to pay in installments. Another in hardware and electronics offers discounted fittings and furniture assembly for seniors, with plans to expand these personalized features for veterans.
3. Integrate technology solutions
Instead of re-platforming, retail professionals are looking to integrate technology solutions with their existing marketing capabilities. For instance, more than half are still struggling to onboard their offline CRM data for ID management purposes. Once they can do this, they’ll be able to gain critical customer insights and use key strategies like predictive modeling, remarketing, and audience segmentation.
4. Create personalized and interactive features
Retailers will invest in website features that are personalized based on customer behaviors, interests, and affiliations. According to our study, 28% of retail professionals are already using ID management technologies to improve personalization, but 65% are still considering or developing this capability. Those who do invest in personalization are able to offer group discount options and fraud protection (59%), identify their best customers (48%), and improve product recommendations (33%).
5. Use campaign intelligence to drive engagement
With campaign intelligence data and technologies to guide them, retail marketers can build a more thorough view of each customer, incorporating all touchpoints. They can then use these insights to build more effective and engaging campaigns, offering product recommendations, solutions, and even prices that appeal to each individual buyer.
As we head into 2020, retail professionals are tasked with grabbing attention in a world where it’s in short supply. By sticking to these resolutions, they can prime their marketing systems to yield more comprehensive data and build more inclusive and interactive campaigns for customers across platforms.
Want a deeper dive into the data technologies and identity-driven strategies that are helping retailers better understand who their customers truly are and act upon those insights? Download our Campaign Intelligence Report.

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What’s changed is that many big technology firms no longer even try to invent the Next Big Thing. Instead, they buy it, using their multi-billion-dollar cash hoards. The result is an “innovation slowdown” among the technology industry’s leading companies, technology industry analyst Michael S. Malone observed in a provocative Wall Street Journal article last year.
“Look around Silicon Valley and it’s hard to find established companies still devising their next products in-house,” he said. “Seen anything new and big lately from Cisco, Yahoo or even Twitter?” I suggest that the same might be asked, of course, of Facebook, Oracle and several others. For these firms, the question is, Why innovate, when you can simply buy?
This slowdown in product innovation is mirrored by a similar decline in basic science research. “American corporate labs used to be the stuff of legend. But those days are long gone,” reported a May article in The New York Times. “Corporations, constantly pressured to increase the next quarter’s profits in the face of powerful foreign competition, are walking away from basic science too, [and] big companies now [can] more easily buy innovative startups.”
Or, as suggested by Google’s August announcement that it was reorganizing itself as a holding company, some firms opt for organizational change in hopes of staying relevant.
But either way, the bottom line is unavoidable. As the Times put it, “The edifice of American innovation rests on an increasingly rickety foundation.”
Two main forces are driving this innovation slowdown. First, some companies see the acquisition of startups as a quick off-budget way to obtain new technology or enter new markets without the need for large R&D investments that dilute the bottom line. This is a recipe that obviously pleases the short-term palates of analysts. And to be fair, innovation-by-acquisition can be an effective strategy in sectors like pharmaceuticals, where it’s responsible for two-thirds of all sales growth among drug firms since 1995. Acquisitions can also offer firms a way to circumvent the torpor and inertia of many big company R&D programs.
But innovation-by-acquisition also carries risks, including the fact that it may undermine a company’s long-term viability. This is especially true if a company, by forsaking internally- generated innovation, loses the organizational capacity and know-how needed to independently respond to market shifts. “In that case, says analyst Chris Donegan of EverEdge IP, “a decline in a company’s inventiveness can have swift and brutal results—consider that the life expectancy of an S&P 500 company has fallen from 61 years in 1958 to only 18 years today.”
A second factor behind the innovation slowdown is the growing number of campaigns waged by activist investors to force companies to cut their investment in R&D and instead boost short-term earnings and stock price. Earlier this year, Nelson Peltz tried to force DuPont to shut down its R&D lab and split the company into three parts. This despite the fact that DuPont’s R&D lab was responsible over the years for the invention of rayon, Teflon, Kevlar, and Solamet solar cells. Indeed, in 2014 alone, innovative products from the lab were directly responsible for 32%, or $9 billion, of DuPont’s total revenue.
Thankfully, DuPont shareholders rejected Peltz’ initiative—one of the few defeats suffered by these slash-and-burn activists in recent years. But activist pressure overall continues to have a deleterious effect on innovation. As venture capitalist Marc Andreessen told an investor conference a few months ago, “Public companies are being basically forced by pressure from activists to give back huge amounts of cash instead of investing it in the business.”
Kill R&D, and you’ve killed the company
I believe this is terribly short-sighted. When I took charge of IBM’s global intellectual property function in the early 1990s, Big Blue was in the midst of a near-death experience. For several years, IBM had suffered the largest losses in U.S. corporate history, and had been forced as a result to reduce its workforce by half. Not widely known was the fact that the company was only 100 days away from bankruptcy.
In response, we began licensing our valuable intellectual property and know-how to other firms— a practice that until then would have been considered corporate treason had it not been driven by our desperate need for cash. Within three years, we were generating over $1 billion annually in licensing revenue, 98% of which was pure profit. This enabled us to maintain our investment in critical R&D programs until they were ready for prime time.
The most important of these R&D projects involved the development of the world’s first copper chip, which enabled microprocessors to run 40% faster at 30% less manufacturing cost. The San Jose Mercury News said IBM’s copper chip put it “three years ahead of its competitors.” A Japanese newspaper ran a headline simply titled “The IBM Shock!” Interestingly, we used the experience gained from licensing our intellectual property to make a deal with arch-rival Motorola, which had also been trying to develop a copper chip. We licensed the copper chip technology to them, essentially “hiring” Motorola to fab it for us, and it quickly became an industry standard.
That’s what investing in innovation can do for you.
I am well aware that R&D spending does not automatically equal breakthrough innovation. Microsoft, for example, spends $11 billion a year on R&D, and I am not the only Microsoft alum to wonder what exactly the company gets from all that.
But even with the caveat that R&D does not always result in innovative new products and services, I still believe that the current innovation-by-acquisition craze says more about cheap money and near-sighted management than it does about a sustainable path to corporate growth.
When interest rates go up and companies are forced to look elsewhere for performance gains, I’m confident the pendulum will swing back to more organic growth through innovation. And when that happens, the advantage will go to business leaders who are able to create, lead, and sustain innovation-driven growth.


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The Nuremberg Metropolitan Region can become one of the most attractive locations for Businesses after BREXIT
Brexit is only two years away, but many companies are already looking for a new home, relocating their head office to another state within the circle of remaining EU members, so they can continue to advantageously access the EU market. However, picking a new location is not so easy.
While many companies are more interested in Frankfurt am Main, some look to alternative sites such as Bank of America, which recently decided to go to Dublin.
But there are also numerous reasons for choosing Nuremberg or its surroundings. Compared to Frankfurt am Main we have summarized some obvious arguments:
- Low lifting rate and thus a lower tax burden
- Attractive funding programs from the city and the Nuremberg Metropolitan Region (free office under certain conditions, plus free tax and legal advice)
- Welcome Package for entrepreneurs from abroad
- Intensive promotion of innovation from the local private and public resources
- A region of technological innovation, high-tech and future technologies, including the so-called “hidden champions”.
As a permanent partner of the city of Nuremberg, we are happy to advise you.


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When it rains, it pours! Today, there’s a ton of new information about mobile advertising trends and new initiatives, all of which should catch the eye of marketers, advertisers and developers alike.
For starters, a new report from Millennial Media finds Android ad requests are on the rise. Meanwhile, IDC notes that Apple’s iAd program is now closing in on Google’s mobile sales, and this year we may end up seeing the two companies tied for market share. Also, Blackberry smartphone maker RIM has just announced its own ad solution called Blackberry Advertising Service and it looks appealing. As for location-based ads, there’s good news here too: local ad revenues are expected to grow to $2 billion by 2014.
Mobile Ads: Sorry, But You Have to Care About This
Whether you’re looking to capitalize on the mobile platform for selling your product or service to end users or you’re a mobile application developer trying to effectively monetize your latest creation, you can’t turn a blind eye to what’s happening in the mobile advertising industry today.
And just like everything in the mobile ecosystem, the changes come fast and can be hard to follow.
Here’s what you need to know now to stay on top of the latest trends:
1. Android Ad Requests Way, Way Up
Since January of this year, Android ad requests have increased by 996% and are increasing at rate of 39% month-over-month, according to Millennial Media, which maintains the largest ad network in the U.S, reaching 80% of the mobile audience. Android is now the second-largest platform on the network with a 26% share of smartphone OS ad impressions. Apple is still number one, with a 29% share.
Key Takeaway: There’s rapid iPhone and Android growth going on now and impressions are coming from a diverse set of carriers and device types, including smartphones, feature phones and connected devices. Android is clearly growing fast.
2. iAd is Doing Well
Research firm IDC is predicting that Apple’s iAd mobile advertising platform will compete head-to-head with Google in terms of ad sales by the end of 2010. According to Business Week, IDC predicts Apple will end up with 21% of the market by year-end and Google will drop to 21% from its 27% share measured last year at the same time. This includes the results from Google’s acquisition of Ad Mob, the network it bought in May. Microsoft is predicted to drop from 10% to 7%.
Key Takeaway: Although this report seems to counter the trend of Android’s rise in ad impressions mentioned above, it actually doesn’t. Millennial Media’s report is tracking trends in mobile ad requests, not overall market share. Android’s ad requests are up, but in market share even Millennial sees the two companies with similar portions of the overall market (26% for Android, 29% for Apple). Apple and Google are nearly neck-and-neck.
3. Don’t Count Out RIM: New Blackberry Advertising Service Should Appeal to Devs
If you’re targeting the corporate user, RIM’s new offering may have some appeal. Hoping it’s “better late than never,” RIM has announced its new mobile ad solution called the BlackBerry Advertising Service. The service’s aim is to help app developers monetize their products.
With “just a few lines of code,” developers can include ads in their apps which are relevant and tie into the core Blackberry smartphone features including Contacts, Calendar, the Media Player and BlackBerry App World, the company’s App Store offering. The service includes three main features: an SDK (software development kit), a mediation platform where developers manage the ads and track analytics and a “growing slate” of advertising networks, says RIM. For now that slate includes Amobee, Jumptap, Lat49, Millennial Media and Mojiva but RIM says Buzzcity, NavTeq, Placecast, Sympatico, Transpera, Where, xAD, and Medialets are expected to come on board in the future.
Key Takeaway: RIM is offering not just monetization but analytics too, a combination which should be attractive to its developer community. The company still has a sizable audience (50 million customers) despite recent market share losses to Android. But some analysts are still worried how RIM’s offering will fare in the larger mobile ad market.
4. Local Ads are a Hot Trend
Location-based fill-in-the-blank-here is one of the hottest trends in the tech industry today and the mobile local ad market is no exception. New data from BIA/Kelsey details the size and growth opportunities in the local advertising market and is forecasting the market will reach $2.02 billion by 2014. For comparison purposes, it was $213 million last year.
In this case, BIA/Kelsey is defining a local mobile ad as one that’s “targeted based on a user’s location as is actionable on a local basis,” reports mobile site MocoNews.
Key Takeaway: There’s big money in local ads but they’re still going to remain a miniscule portion of the overall local media market. In 2009, local mobile ads accounted for 0.2% of local media and by 2014 that will only increase to 1.4%.
5. Outside U.S., Nokia Leads in Ad Requests, but Smartphones Dominate
An interesting report from ADITIC, a mobile ad network from Sofialys, gives a glimpse into the non-U.S. mobile advertising world. According to mobile site GoMoNews, Sofialys’ audience is primarily Europe, Africa and Asia which gives it the advantage of seeing trends occurring outside the United States, a market which tends to dominate most mobile ad reports and analysis these days.
Here, ADITIC found that Nokia devices generate the most ad requests (29%). iPhone gets 21% then Samsung and LG are at 13% and 6% respectively. However, iPhones and Android dominate the traffic ADITIC sees.
Key Takeaway: Smartphones are best for display ads but remember that feature phone users can see ads too.
Read more here on GoMoNews.


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HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA – DC is proud to announce it has re-signed 7-time Supercross Champion and DC Moto athlete Jeremy McGrath to a new multi-year deal. In addition to being a head-to-toe DC athlete, Jeremy will now be wearing riding gear created exclusive for him by DC. This is the first time that DC has ventured motocross gear and fans can expect to see Jeremy sporting the gear this Spring.
“We couldn’t have picked a better athlete to create our first DC branded motocross gear for,” said Brian Cassaro, DC’s Action Sports Marketing Director. “Jeremy is the king of Supercross and one of the greatest motocross legends of all time. He’s been a dedicated DC athlete for more than a decade and we’re honored that he’ll be wearing DC designed gear on the track, as well as our apparel and footwear off the track.”
To create the design of the Spring 2011 gear, Jeremy worked with DC designers on a graphic and came up with a print inspired by a blue spill pattern from the Toxic boardshort in DC’s Summer 2011 line. While the gear won’t be available for sale, it’s only for athlete and promotional use, apparel and footwear inspired by Jeremy’s gear is in the works and will be available to consumers later this year.
“I couldn’t be more excited about working on a new venture with DC,” said Jeremy. “I’ve been a DC athlete for such a long time, and this was a great next step to get more involved with the brand. I like to be at the forefront of new and exciting projects, so this was a perfect fit for me. To make sure the gear was the best of the best, we reached out to my friend Troy Lee to help with this project.”
This multi-year deal with Jeremy comes on the heels of DC announcing last month that it would be the official and exclusive footwear sponsor of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross for the next three years. For the 14 years, DC has been involved in the motocross industry through its elite team of motocross athletes and products. This new venture exemplifies DC’s growing commitment and dedication to Motocross.
Motocross fans can get a first look at the gear that will be on display at DC’s booth at the AMA Monster Energy Supercross races through-out the 2011 Supercross season.
For more information on Jeremy and the DC Motocross team visit www.dcshoes.com and stay tuned to DC’s Facebook pages including the new DC Moto page.
Founded by Ken Block and Damon Way in 1993, DC quickly grew to a leader in performance skateboarding shoes and renowned action sports brand. Today DC stands as a global brand whose product line has expanded to include men’s, women’s and kids’ skateboarding and lifestyle shoes, apparel, snowboards, snowboard boots, outerwear, and accessories. As one of the cornerstones of its marketing strategy, DC has built a world-class team of professional skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, BMX, motocross and rally athletes that exemplify and enhance DC’s brand, develop its signature products, and support its promotional efforts. DC is a subsidiary of Quiksilver, Inc.


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Builders' confidence in the new single-family homes market rose in May, a trade
group said Wednesday.
The National Association of Home Builders said their Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index for builder confidence added three points to reach 44 over a downwardly revised 41 point reading for April.
"While industry supply chains will take time to re-establish themselves following recession-related cutbacks, builders' views of current sales conditions have improved and expectations for the future remain quite strong as consumers head back to the market in force," said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe in a statement.
"Builders are noting an increased sense of urgency among potential buyers as a result of thinning inventories of homes for sale, continuing affordable mortgage rates and strengthening local economies," said NAHB Chairman Rick Judson.
"This is definitely an encouraging sign even amidst rising challenges with regard to the cost and availability of building materials, lots and labor," he said.
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All vehicle segments are in the black and even the LCV segment, which had seen over two years of declining sales, is witnessing a turnaround now.
As per the cumulative production, domestic sales and export numbers revealed by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), today, overall domestic sales across vehicle categories, during the first quarter of 2016-17, have notched 13.42% year-on-year growth.
Importantly, all vehicle segments are in the black and even the LCV segment, which had seen over two years of declining sales, is witnessing a turnaround now.
The utility vehicle (UV) segment, which has seen a number of new launches in the recent past, has posted a sterling growth of 38.04% with sales of 176,788 units in the first three months of the fiscal year. Sales in the passenger car segment (475,799 units) though have seen a decline of 1.41%, possibly with some buyers migrating to UVs. Vans sales meanwhile continued to grow by 3.97% and stood at 44,567 units. Overall the passenger vehicle sector – cars, UVs and vans – managed a YoY Q1 growth of 6.6%.
Also read: Selling MPVs in India is no child's play
The overall commercial vehicles segment (M&HCVs and LCVs) registered a growth of 12.99% in April-June 2016. While Medium & Heavy Commercial Vehicles (M&HCVs) registered 14.49% growth (71,072 units) thanks to growing demand from the infrastructure and mining sectors, growth has also filtered down into the Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) sector, growing by 11.91% during April-June 2016 (95,884 units).
Meanwhile, three-wheelers sales grew by 23.39 percent in April-June 2016 (139,497 units), comprising 114,928 passenger carriers (+26.40%) and 24,569 goods carriers (+11.05%).
The advent of a strong monsoon this year has augured well for the two wheeler industry. In Q1, 2016-17, a total of 4,542,736 two-wheelers were sold, which translates into 14.26% YoY growth. Within the two-wheeler segment, scooters, motorcycles and mopeds grew by 27.12%, 8.87% and 18.33%, respectively in April-June 2016 over April-June 2015.
Despite the growth in domestic sales, the automotive industry saw a significant decline in the overall exports during Q1. Slowing growth in the passenger car segment (0.7%) and the double-digit decline in motorcycle exports (10.6%) hit the overall performance. Three wheeler exports also reported a sharp fall of 46.6% during the quarter.
According to SIAM, Indian automakers have been impacted due to the withdrawal of export incentives in important markets like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Currency fluctuations during the quarter have also weighed on margins during the quarter.
However, a sharp rise in export of UVs (91.7%) and vans (88.8%) provided some fillip to the otherwise weak performance.
With the overall GDP growth for 2016-17 expected to improve to 7.9% and the settlement for the seventh pay commission in place now, the outlook for the Indian automotive industry remains positive.
According to the industry body, sales across passenger vehicle, commercial vehicles and two wheeler segments are likely to pick up in the coming months.
A likely favourable decision on the diesel ban along with a boost in consumer spending due to the seventh pay commission will augur well for PV sales.
“Seventh pay commission is expected to provide a boost to consumer spending which is expected to positively impact passenger vehicles. This is also expected to propel the replacement of cars bought 5 years back during the 6th pay commission,” the industry body said.
UV sales are likely to continue leading the growth in PV sales in the coming months, with manufacturers lining up more launches in the segment. However, sedan sales are likely to remain muted as customer preferences shift towards UVs.
In the CV segment, M&HCV’s are likely to continue growing at close to 20% in FY17 as replacement needs and the likely preponement of purchases to Q4 2016-17 due to the pan-India BS IV implementation by April 1, 2017, will fuel demand. Within the M&HCV segment, ICVs and tractor trailers are likely to garner most volumes.
The removal of mining ban and general pick up in infrastructure and construction-related activities will augur well for the tipper segment, SIAM said.
Passenger commercial vehicle segments will benefit from the growing demand for school buses and expected demand for about 1000 buses under JnNURM II, likely to come in by H2 FY17.
With the strong start to the monsoon season this year, demand for two-wheelers from the rural and semi-urban markets is set to go up in the near future. Pent-up demand due to poor rains in the last two years will also fuel growth in the motorcycle segment. The fund infusion due to the seventh pay commission is also likely to drive sales in the industry. Within the two-wheeler segment, scooters are likely to continue to dominate with a strong emphasis of manufacturers on new model launches and aggressive capacity expansion plans, SIAM concluded.
- India Sales Analysis: JUNE 2016
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Bitcoin is the buzzword of the year. Though, if we properly look into it, bitcoin has been the buzzword for some time – at least since its inception in 2009. The associated blockchain technology may have been relegated to the lips of those in the technology industry or those looking to invest but, as the tide of the cryptocurrency has ebbed and flowed, it has entered the lexicon of the general public. Bitcoin, for those unaware, is a form of cryptocurrency utilising blockchain technology that doesn’t rely on a central bank system and, therefore, argues that it is safer, quicker, and more cost-effective than standard currency. But what does it have to do with Uganda?
Bitcoin in Uganda
A recent warning from the Bank of Uganda into the possible dangers of bitcoin in Uganda will only make the cryptocurrency gather more adopters, according to Katherine Atuhairi of Uganda Bitcoin Network. She predicts a spike in interest of the blockchain technology, which sets itself as a potential rival to the Bank of Uganda. She also suggests that Silver Kayongo, an East African Banking and Legal Consultant, is correct in stating that, with 77% of Ugandans without a bank account, moving away from the Bank of Uganda could damage fintech ambitions. Some would even argue that standard banking in Uganda can be just as damaging, as with the possible closure in 2016 of the Barclays Bank of Uganda. Yet, bitcoin and cryptocurrency are treated with more wariness than standard banking, despite sharing some of the same possible limitations.
Bitcoin Adopters in Uganda
But, despite warnings and the fluctuation of the market, including the price drop in December 2017, enthusiasts are not deterred. Indeed, some claim to even enjoy the excitement that comes with the volatility, which could see their bitcoin stock rise and fall on a dime. Bitcoin mainly entices those with no employment, who hope to cash in on the boom much like the dot-com boom of the late 1990s. Others are professionals hoping to create an extra cash flow, likely at little risk to them. Indeed, bitcoin does look promising to those with an interest in technology, finance, or risk. In Kampala, many people dedicate their time to informing others as to the blessing that bitcoin may bring. Richard M Bagorogo is one, who claims the holidays he is able to take and the money he is able to give to his father are down to bitcoin and his early adoption. But is Bagorogo’s work helping others to adopt the technology?
Where Else is Bitcoin Used?
Bitcoin may be unknown to many traditionalists in Uganda but it is fairly prolific in its uses elsewhere online. For example, Japan made bitcoin legal tender, where bitcoin trade accounts for around half of the global trade volume. The Kenya-based BitPesa allows cash to be transferred throughout Africa, along with the many different currencies in the 54 countries – and utilises bitcoin to do so. Moreover, as metioned by Betway Casino, Expedia and Microsoft, two huge global online brands, both offer payment for certain services in the form of the cryptocurrency. Plus, Overstock, was the first online retailer to offer bitcoin payment options back in 2014. The company, which sells big-ticket items at cheaper prices due to overstocking, was a pioneer in the cryptocurrency field. Bitcoin was even utilised to crowdfund for bitcoin housing platform BitRent.
How to Get Involved in Bitcoin in Uganda
Bagorogo suggests people invest in mining pools of bitcoin. That is, the blockchain technology is derived from ‘mining’ it online, where the ownership of each chain is tracked and computational power is utilised to discover new chains that make up the cryptocurrency. Some, however, are sceptical due to the lack of middleman management – and, therefore, the lack of regulation and protection that central lending offers. Others compare bitcoin to other new technologies that were dismissed initially, yet proved to be successful later on.
What Else is Blockchain Technology Used For?
The blockchain technology which bitcoin is derived from also has other uses, which may help warm people up to the idea of cryptocurrency. CryptoKitties uses the unique markers of the blockchain technology to create individual digital cats – each one 100% exclusive. The cats have a trade value and different attributes, which can be swapped with other collectors. They can also breed and create other unique cats with their own attributes. The trade ability and the unique chain technology both go far to showcase how bitcoin works and the safety present in its functionality. If nothing else, the blockchain cats may just show people that bitcoin isn’t as bad as people make out.
Overall, bitcoin still represents a positive and exciting move forwards in how finance is conducted, especially in Uganda. While there are those in favour of the changes that bitcoin can make to how things are done and how people can be benefited, there are also plenty of detractors who err on the side of caution when it comes to the uptake of new technology. Others cite the energy usage – one bitcoin transactions uses the same energy as boiling 30,000 kettles. Ultimately, as the uptake of the cryptocurrency grows in the world, more people will come around to the idea – or, conversely, if the technology proves to be a flash in the pan fad, then those critical of the tech will be able to tell people how they were right.
dfcu Bank supports Rotary Blood Bank initiative
By Our Reporter
dfcu Bank has announced a contribution of UGX 15,000,000 as one of the sponsors of the upcoming Transformational Leadership Forum and the Kirk Wallum Jazz concert slated for 7th March 2019. The contribution is towards fundraising efforts for the Rotary Blood Bank at Mengo Hospital which was constructed by Rotary and its partners.
The announcement was at dfcu Bank’s head office in Kampala where the Bank’s Chief Executive Officer, Mathias Katamba, handed over a cheque to Dr. Emmanuel Katongole, Chairperson Rotary Blood Bank Program.
The initiative intends to raise $500,000 in order to equip Mengo Hospital with a fully-fledged Blood Bank which can test, process and pack safe blood before being distributed to other health centres.
According to dfcu CEO, Mathias Katamba, “It is unfortunate that, patients still die or suffer unnecessarily because they do not have access to safe blood transfusion. The timely availability of safe blood and blood products is essential in all health facilities. It is possible to bridge the gap, between blood requirements and annual shortfall of 100,000 units of blood in Uganda, if each one of us gets involved in initiatives such as these.”
“Our support towards this cause is directly in line with our brand promise of Making More Possible for the diverse communities in which we operate. People are at the heart of our Corporate Social Investment (CSI) agenda and the need for accessible safe blood is universal, so we are more than glad to make our contribution to this cause. We will be unveiling more community investment initiatives this year as dfcu celebrates 55 years of existence,” Katamba added.
“We are happy to have dfcu partner with us on a cause that will enable the Rotary Club make a significant contribution in meeting the annual deficit of 100,000 units of blood. Our target for this year is to equip the Mengo blood bank so that-it is a fully fledged facility which can test, process and pack safe blood. The contribution from dfcu towards our fundraising efforts is commendable,” said Emanuel Katongole.
dfcu Bank has a history with Rotary and has been a part of several fundraising initiatives including the Rotary Hospital in Mukono where dfcu made a contribution of UGX 150M towards its construction.
Huawei Presents Its Simplified 5G and SoftCOM AI Solutions at the MWC Barcelona 2019
By Staff Writer
Huawei has been committed to helping operators expand their business boundaries and achieve new growth through innovations in networks, services, and business models. To this end, Huawei is presenting its end-to-end 5G products and solutions at the event, such as simplified 5G sites, architecture, protocols, and operations & maintenance (O&M). These new offerings will help operators quickly deploy 5G networks on a large scale. Huawei has also launched the SoftCOM AI solution, which will help build autonomous driving networks of the future and maximize the value of telecom networks.
5G has arrived, and AI has become a new general-purpose technology. Innovation will never end and humanity will continue to develop, driven by advancements in science and technology. The intelligent world of the future will be a “Digital Village” where everyone is included and closely connected.
At this year’s event, Huawei is expanding on the theme of “Building a Fully Connected, Intelligent World”. Huawei’s main exhibition hall – Hall 1 – was designed around the theme of “The Digital Village”, representing the combination of technology and culture. The “Digital Village” provides a platform that brings together global industry elites and KOLs, allowing them to exchange ideas and discuss what challenges and opportunities the fully connected, intelligent world will bring to humanity.
Huawei’s main booth at Hall1 in Mobile World Congress 2019
Huawei has maintained absolute leadership in 5G solutions through ongoing investment in R&D. The high 5G network performance and strong delivery capabilities make Huawei a partner of choice. So far, Huawei has signed over 30 commercial 5G contracts with operators around the world, and shipped over 40,000 5G base stations. Its aim is to help operators jump start 5G and deliver a high-quality 5G user experience.
In Hall 1, Huawei is showcasing its end-to-end 5G products and solutions, ranging from simplified 5G sites and 5G integrated transport, to 5G cloud core and simplified 5G O&M. It also demonstrated its core technologies behind the new products and solutions, including radio frequency, optical transmission, IP, and IT. All of these are evidence of Huawei’s extensive experience in R&D and strong innovation capabilities.
Huawei was the first company in the industry to launch commercial 5G chips and devices, and has worked with the industry to drive 5G maturity and commercialization. Huawei demonstrated 8K high-definition (HD) livestreaming on Vodafone Spain’s 5G network, and showcased new applications such as Cloud VR, cloud gaming, and cloud PCs. These applications showed that 5G will bring a better life for everyone.
Under the support of Huawei, multiple European operators, including Vodafone, announced that 5G networks are now ready for commercial use. Huawei also signed 5G contracts with many operators from around the world.
In addition, Huawei presented its idea for autonomous driving networks, as well as its full-stack, all-scenario SoftCOM AI solution, with the aim to significantly improve operating efficiency, network performance, O&M efficiency, and user experiences. The SoftCOM AI solution enables “0 bits, 0 watts” and adaptive beam adjustment, thereby maximizing the value of telecom networks.
Huawei is actively innovating networks, services, and business models. It works with customers to redefine the business models and boundaries of the telecom industry, and ultimately help operators succeed. This will be achieved through a portfolio of innovative business solutions, including IoT cloud services, personal mobile services, five-star premium home broadband, and cloud-network convergence.
Huawei has worked closely with industry organizations, and has made key contributions to future network infrastructure, cyber security, and security policies and standards targeting vertical industries. Huawei is the world’s one and only telecom equipment vendor that is subject to and passes inspections against the highest-level standards. This ensures Huawei can create more secure and trustworthy products and solutions for its customers.
At this year’s event, Huawei is exploring cyber security mechanisms and standards that are suitable for Europe by holding forums and announcing joint initiatives with major industry organizations. Together, they will drive fair, open, trusted, and secure cooperation across the industry.
This is the first time that all of Huawei’s three business groups (BGs) – Carrier BG, Enterprise BG, and Consumer BG – have participated in the MWC. Huawei’s Enterprise BG showcased four star products: the industry’s fastest OceanStor Dorado series all flash storage; the world’s first AI-powered data center switch; the world’s first Wi-Fi 6 access point (AP) for commercial use; and the X series cameras – the world’s first AI-powered software-defined cameras. Huawei’s Consumer BG showcased multiple popular devices, and launched the world’s first foldable 5G smartphone.
MWC 2019 runs from February 25 to 28 in Barcelona, Spain. Huawei is showcasing its products and solutions at booth 1H50 in Fira Gran Via Hall 1, booth 3I30 in Hall 3, the Innovation City zone in Hall 4, and booths 7C21 and 7C31 in Hall 7. For more information, please visit http://www.huawei.com/mwc2019/.
Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. With integrated solutions across four key domains – telecom networks, IT, smart devices, and cloud services – we are committed to bringing digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world.
Huawei’s end-to-end portfolio of products, solutions and services are both competitive and secure. Through open collaboration with ecosystem partners, we create lasting value for our customers, working to empower people, enrich home life, and inspire innovation in organizations of all shapes and sizes.
At Huawei, innovation focuses on customer needs. We invest heavily in basic research, concentrating on technological breakthroughs that drive the world forward. We have more than 180,000 employees, and we operate in more than 170 countries and regions. Founded in 1987, Huawei is a private company fully owned by its employees.
For more information, please visit Huawei online at www.huawei.com or follow us on:
MTN’s 20 year anniversary celebration goes regional.
- MTN continues the celebration of 20 years in Uganda to regions this week starting with Kabale district.
- The regional expos will be ongoing until 25th May 2019
- The expos will take place in Kabale, Gulu, Lira, Fort Portal, Mbarara, Arua, Hoima and Mbale districts.
- The theme is “Celebrating the Past and Inspiring the Future”
Kampala – MTN Uganda has today started off a three-month tour of the country with regional expos in major towns as part of its 20 year celebrations in Uganda. The regional expos are part of the celebrations that started in October 2018 with the MTN Expo at the Kololo Airstrip. On Monday, 25th February 2019, a team from MTN departed for Kabale, the first stop of the regional expos planned until 25th May 2019.
In October 2018, MTN Uganda turned 20 years and under the theme “Celebrating the past, inspiring the future”, the company opted for commemorative activities like Expos across major towns in Uganda.
“In 1998, MTN Uganda launched in this market, facilitating business growth and enabling communication. In the last 20 years, MTN has taken services across Uganda and connected millions of people. That is why are celebrating the 20 years by taking expos to major towns in the country to represent that we are “everywhere you go,” explained Gordian Kyomukama, the Acting CEO MTN Uganda.
Some of the features of the week-long regional expos will be the bicycle challenge, a Smartphone Fair, performances by top Ugandan musicians, stakeholder engagements, a donation from the MTN Foundation and displays by some of the MTN Uganda partners. The first stop of the expo will be at the Kabale Stadium from February 26th, 2019. There will also be lots of prizes to be won.
In some of the towns like Gulu and Mbarara, MTN through MTN Pulse will also host Pulse parties.
“Our aim is to celebrate the 20 year journey we have been connecting Ugandans. However, we also want to indicate our commitment to operating in Uganda for many more years to come because we have enabled connections by providing services that have eased the sending and receiving of money, affordable voice and data rates and business solutions,” Kyomukama adds.
Over the next years, MTN’s focus will be ensuring increased reliable internet access and improved financial inclusion through Mobile Financial Services like MTN Mobile Money.
MTN Regional Expo calendar.
|Kabale||25th February to 3rd March 2019|
|Gulu||11th to 17th March 2019|
|Lira||18th to 24th March 2019|
|Fort Portal||1st to 7th April 2019|
|Mbarara||8th to 14th April 2019|
|Arua||29th April to 5th May 2019|
|Hoima||6th to 12th May 2019|
|Mbale||20th to 5th May 2019|
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OUR BLOG POST
Within a period of one year, the volume of financial transactions through mobile devices has more than doubled, a BusinessDay analysis from the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) shows.
According to the NIBSS data, its volume increased by 150.8 percent to 66.7 million in August 2022 from 26.6 million in the same period of 2021. Its value also rose by 155.8 percent from n719.4 billion as at August 2021 to n1.8 trillion in the same period of this year.
“Nigerians are now shifting from cash activities to electronic payment systems and if you look at the telecommunications subscription, data subscription and usage, you will see that there is an increased usage of mobile phones,” Johnson Chukwu, the chief executive officer at Cowry Asset Management Limited said.
Data from the Nigerian Communications Commission shows that mobile network operators, comprising Mtn, Airtel, Globacom, and 9mobile recorded a 11.2 percent increase in active subscriptions to 209 million in July 2022 from 188 million in the same period of last year.
Additionally, a 2021 Global Findex report by the World Bank stated that higher adoption of mobile money is driving the growth of account ownership in financial institutions particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries like Nigeria.
The report showed that the country’s banked population increased by 15.6 percentage points to 45.3 percent in 2021, the highest in 10 years from 29.7 percent in 2011.
“Mobile money has become an important enabler of financial inclusion in SSA especially for women as a driver of account ownership and of account usage through mobile payments, saving, and borrowing,” the report added.
Apart from mobile transfers, Point of Sales (POS) also followed the same trend as its volume in August 2022 amounted to 98.4 million, a 30.2 percent increase from what was recorded in the same period of 2021 at 75.6 million.
In terms of value, it recorded an increase rate of 40.9 percent year-on-year from N504.9 billion to N711.2 billion.
Also, the volume of Nigeria Instant Payment (NIP) platform transactions rose to 448.1 million in August, showing a 52.5 percent increase from 293.9 million recorded in the same period of last year. its value increased by 50. 2 percent
Correspondingly, from the NIBSS data, the volume of cheque transactions fell marginally by 2.1 percent to 358.2 million from 366 million over the same period.
The surge is a sign that the country’s financial inclusion is improving as more people access financial services at the comfort of their phones, says Damilola Adewale, a Lagos-based economic analyst.
“Consumers are finding it easier, faster and more convenient to do transfers than going physically to the banks.”
A report titled ‘Instant Payments 2020 Annual Statistics’ by NIBSS also stated that COViD-19 had changed the e-payments landscape, and hastened the adoption of instant payments as people switch to electronic channels for funds exchange.
In 2012, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) introduced the cashless policy which was meant to curb excessive handling of cash and to curtail the volume of cash in circulation.
More importantly, the policy was introduced to drive development and modernization of payment systems capable of placing Nigeria among the top 20 economies in the world.
Over the years, NIBSS says Nigerian banks have exposed NIP through their various channels, including internet banking, bank branch, kiosks, mobile apps, USSD, POS, and ATM, to their customers
First Publised on Business Day


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Citizens of Philadelphia were hit by a tax on sugary drinks like sodas, though the hike was aimed at improving their health.
As Saturday's Hotair highlighted, the "tax on sodas" has led Philadelphians to move to the outside of the city to buy their sodas (and possibly other products), has reduced the income of the city and led to layoffs in the local beverage industry and at reduced hours. for employees in small markets. However, this did not result in an increase in healthier beverage purchases in the city.
When the soft drink tax was announced for the first time, Pepsi workers were hit. "With sales plummeting due to the new Philadelphia sweet drink tax, Pepsi announced on Wednesday that it was going to fire 80 to 100 workers in three distribution plants serving the city," philly.com announced in March. 2017.
And last month, the local store announced that the owner of Acme Markets, which has 16 stores in Philadelphia, had to reduce the hours of work of its employees because of the tax: "The tax on beverages raises about 4,000 items. In Acme City stores, soda sales dropped by 80%. Sales of other items covered by the tax, such as fruit juices, creamers and energy drinks, decreased by 30% and the number of customers decreased by 5%. Philly stores eliminate an average of 150 to 200 hours of employees per week, which reduces employee salaries. "
But the blow the employees suffered was not synonymous with victory for the "health" of its citizens. As Hotair noted, Philadelphia residents were traveling outside the city to avoid rising taxes on their consumption.
A CNN report on a JAMA medical journal study reported a 51 percent drop in soft drinks purchases in cities, but admits: "The researchers found that sales of sweetened beverages dropped in Philadelphia after tax, Sales of beverages in cities and the tax went up, suggesting that people may have traveled to get their soda at a discounted price. "
"People stopped buying their sodas in the city (and probably many other items from the shopping list) and decided to shop where prices were lower," noted Hotair.
Has there been at least a slight increase in healthier beverage purchases because of the tax? Nope. "Philadelphia has not seen any increase in sales of untaxed drinks such as bottled water," CNN reported.
CNN did not discuss the recipes that hit Philadelphia, but Hotair said, "The tax on sodas has increased by 17%, but sales have dropped 51%. Let's take a look at this, assuming that one million ounces of soda are sold each year before the tax comes into effect. If sales had remained the same, the city would have earned $ 62,400.00 instead of $ 54,300.00. But with the volume cut in half, they managed to reduce their revenues to $ 31,200.00. "


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Calgary startup putting ads in unconventional places
New business advertiise – with two i's – helps connect small businesses with local advertising space
Entrepreneur Mark Vella is in the business of selling ads – but not just your traditional benches and billboards.
Before creating his platform advertiise, Vella actually owned a chain of gyms. As the story goes, he noticed a fridge in the corner, which was given to him for free by a soft-drink company, but it didn’t exactly align with the health-conscious values of the gym.
So Vella struck a deal with the supplements store around the corner – putting their logo on the fridge, and stocking it with their product.
“I was already looking ahead of the curve and thinking, ‘if I have all this valuable and untapped advertising space to sell, and essentially its an incremental revenue stream, how many other businesses or vendors (also) have ad space to sell?” he said.
Flash forward a few years, and Vella just launched advertiise, a platform for buying and selling unique advertising spaces.
He hopes that not only with this help small and medium sizes businesses find or create some unique advertising opportunities, but also streamline the ad buying process.
For someone just starting out, especially, Vella feels the advertising world can be a bit complicated.
“If you’re a small business owner, a realtor, a hair salon, and you want to buy advertising space locally, it’s very hard to do,” he said. “If you want to buy a billboard or newspaper space, you have to know who the vendors are first.”
Just buying a billboard, he explained, involves tracking down the owners, setting up a call, negotiating, and a ton of back-and-forth from both parties.
Through advteriise, prices are more easily available, and you can set up ad campaigns in a few clicks. From fridges to kids hockey teams, there are a myriad of opportunities.
Vella feels that although many businesses place an increased importance on digital advertising and social media, but traditional advertising is now more affordable than every before and still has a wide reach.
The Calgary company already has some buzz around it – they were one of 15 startups chosen for AccelerateAB this year.
For more information, visit www.advertiise.com.


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A fascinating generational divide has emerged in the world of online scams, as detailed by a recent study. While 23 per cent of Gen Z respondents reported falling victim to online shopping scams, only nine per cent of boomers said the same. In contrast, 18 per cent of boomers have been duped by email phishing, compared to just nine per cent of Gen Z.
Despite their tech-savviness, Gen Z is more susceptible to social media and online shopping frauds. Boomers, on the other hand, are more likely to be tricked by traditional email phishing and tech support scams.
This study sheds light on the tailored approaches scammers use for different age groups. It underscores the need for broadening our digital literacy and awareness to include understanding and identifying various types of scams.
It’s crucial for everyone, regardless of age, to stay informed about the latest scam tactics and to remain vigilant in digital spaces. Continuous education and caution are the keys to combating these evolving digital threats.
Sources include: Vox


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Disney is riding high, and the entertainment behemoth wants its CEO’s ride to last longer than expected.
The Walt Disney Company’s board said Thursday that it is extending the contract of chairman and CEO Bob Iger through the end of June 2018, which is two years beyond the 2016 retirement date set in a previous contract extension he signed last summer.
The company’s stock price has more than doubled (214%) since Iger took over the CEO role from Michael Eisner, in 2005, while Disney’s (DIS) market value has more than tripled, to $150 billion. Iger had previously spent five years as Disney’s chief operating officer, a position that has remained vacant since he took the helm of the company. Iger is expected to name a new COO next year in a move that will likely allow him to anoint his own successor.
“I’m very excited about what lies ahead, including the release of our Star Wars films and the launch of Shanghai Disneyland, and I’m honored to continue working with our talented management team and the 175,000 dedicated people who make this company what it is today,” Iger said in a statement.
Under Iger’s watch, Disney has expanded its entertainment offerings with such major acquisitions as Pixar, in 2006, and Marvel Entertainment three years later. In 2012, Iger oversaw Disney’s $4 billion purchase of Lucasfilm, which paved the way for a new slate of Star Wars films to be released in coming years. Disney has also recently turned around its iconic animation unit with the global success of last year’s Frozen, which became the highest-grossing animated film ever and spawned a lucrative line of merchandise.
In August, the company reported 22% lift in third quarter profits while the entertainment studio’s revenues jumped 14%. The parks and resorts unit saw a sales bump of 8%.


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The Samsung Galaxy S8 already has the LG G6 on the ropes despite the fact that the devices haven’t made their way out yet. Devices of this year will be running on the Snapdragon 835 processor, but some still offer the Snapdragon 821 and this has been something of a disappointment for some owners. Now we are hearing that the LG G6 may fall into this category and it seems that the Samsung Galaxy S8 could be at fault.
Samsung will be launching the Samsung Galaxy S8 this year and it will offer the Snapdragon 835 processor. Samsung is going to hog all the initial batch of the Qualcomm processor for their device it has been said. Therefore the LG G6 could be left with the Snapdragon 821 processor if LG wants to launch it on time.
A source has said that the LG G6 could arrive with the Snapdragon 821 processor and it would have Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box so it would support Daydream from the start. It may have a high price tag though and this means that some people will be put off and they may wait for the Samsung Galaxy S8 with its better hardware.
Nothing is confirmed of course so for the time being you should take this with a pinch of salt but do you think Samsung will keep the new processor for the Samsung Galaxy S8?


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The Young Turks, a YouTube-based network that generates about 68 million views monthly, has begun to try out a fundraising platform, called Fan Funding.
The program, which is currently in limited release, allows online video creators on YouTube to generate revenue from their viewers with a “support” button. After one week of using the feature, The Young Turks has generated about $400, said Steve Oh, the chief operating officer of the network.
Currently, the feature only allows viewers to contribute by using Google Wallet, an online payment service similar to PayPal, which may have limited the number of donations, Oh said.
Under the terms of the program, donations are limited to $500. YouTube collects five percent of the total donation, plus a 21 cent transaction fee.
Nonprofit investigative news organization ProPublica has applied to use YouTube’s Fan Funding, but hasn’t yet been admitted to the program, said Minhee Cho, ProPublica’s communications manager. Read more


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The north London-based company, which celebrated 275 years in business last year, took delivery of the new £1m press on 1 July with training on that and the Stahlfolder beginning this week.
The new Speedmaster, which will run on double-day shifts producing work such as full-colour brochures and auction catalogues, replaces a two-year-old Speedmaster SX 74 and will join Witherby's remaining Speedmaster, a six-year-old SM 74.
"We wanted to increase capacity and improve quality and efficiency and this gives us that step up. We have had SMs and SXs over the years and the XL takes us onto a new level," said managing director James Greene.
"We decided to do installation and training now during our quieter weeks so that we are fully up and running by the end of the summer; it's worked out really well," he added.
The Stahlfolder CH 56, the company’s first fully automated folder, will join an existing combination folder and a buckle folder also from Heidelberg.
"Until now our folding has been more traditional, manual based, but this is now fully automated. It's essentially for shorter-run, quick-makeready work and will complement both our litho and digital production," said Greene.
Around 80% of the company’s production is litho work, but digital was added to the mix two years ago when it acquired Abacus Print along with its two Xerox presses.
Greene said its digital operation was now going from strength to strength, which was why the business needed further capacity in the finishing department.
"It's looking really strong and we'll be looking at replacing the two Xeroxs in around 12 to 14 months," he said.
The company employs around 36 staff at its Tottenham Hale facility and generates a turnover of around £3.8m.
"There are some good opportunities coming along and we hope those will start to kick in towards the end of the summer," Greene added.


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April 17, 2015 5:52 pm
Maxine Sweet, Experian’s vice president of public education, explains the difference between identity theft and credit card theft and discusses ways to protect against these crimes.
Of Consuming Interest is a weekly show examining the most important consumer issues today. Shirley can be reached via email at firstname.lastname@example.org.
Photos of the amazing, moving, important and amusing things happening in the federal community.
A daily update of important moments in the history of the U.S. government.


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The introduction of the euro has had little impact on financial transactions in Switzerland, which continue to be conducted primarily in Swiss francs.
A new study reveals that the franc remains the most popular currency in Switzerland, and that the euro has not become a major competitor.
Switzerland is not a member of the European Union, but the euro has been accepted as payment for goods and services in many shops and restaurants since the notes and coins were introduced in 2002.
However, only 24 per cent of Swiss retailers give their customers change in euros.
The survey by the Swiss Institute for Business Cycle Research (KOF) - which used data collected from more than 2,000 Swiss firms - also indicates that the use of foreign currency has increased in Switzerland since the introduction of the euro.
In 2002, Swiss firms paid on average 58.5 per cent of their bills in a foreign currency, a rise of just over eleven per cent since 1998.
But the KOF survey makes it clear that salaries paid in euros are still the exception to the rule.
Of the 1,220 Swiss companies which make regular payments in euros, only 0.6 per cent were found in the survey to pay salaries in the single European currency to Swiss employees or foreign workers living in Switzerland.
Just over one per cent of firms pay salaries in euros to employees who cross over the border to work in Switzerland.
The report also reveals that less than half of Swiss businesses protect themselves against currency risks related to the euro.
Those that safeguard themselves against currency fluctuations do so by aligning their euro income and expenditure on the currency markets.
Research indicates that Swiss companies are increasingly favouring the euro over the dollar, which recently plummeted to its lowest level in seven years against the franc.
swissinfo with agencies
On January 1 2002, 12 of the 15 European Union members completed their conversion to the euro. Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom opted out.
The Swiss franc remains the most popular currency in Switzerland, but the euro is gaining ground over the US dollar.
Many tourists use the euro to pay for goods and services in Switzerland, but change is usually given in Swiss francs.
In compliance with the JTI standards


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Cocktails-to-go party grows in Florida Legislature, with two bills filed
Proponents say the convenience, currently not in state law, helps both consumers and businesses.
A cocktails-to-go proposal by state Sen. Jeff Brandes was branded with a bill number Friday, and the St. Petersburg Republican picked up an ally in the effort to reform the state’s alcohol laws.
Newly-elected Sen. Jennifer Bradley, R-Orange Park, uncorked a proposal nearly identical to the one Brandes announced earlier this week. It includes a chaser: a provision to allow diners to take home opened but unfinished bottles of wine.
The bills by Brandes and Bradley (SB 134, SB 148) use the same language to allow licensed vendors to sell or deliver alcoholic beverages in a sealed container if it is part of an order that includes food.
The proposals make permanent an executive order issued by Gov. Ron DeSantis to allow bars and restaurants to sell take-out alcohol during the coronavirus pandemic.
Previous coverage:Cocktails-to-go may become permanent option in Florida
Brandes has argued there have been no major abuses of the governor's order, to his knowledge, and that the convenience helps both consumers and businesses.
The Bradley bill also makes clear the intent to repeal state law that requires customers to order and consume a full meal before being allowed to carry out an unfinished bottle of wine.
Brandes had led the effort to remove that requirement in the 2018 and 2019 sessions. Its repeal has been a perennial proposal for the past decade.
But even though they generate monikers such as “the Merlot-to-go bill” and “take-away Chardonnay legislation,” the measures have routinely gone flat in the Legislature.
The 2021 legislative session begins March 2; committees will start meeting to consider bills at the Capitol in January.
James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org. Follow on him Twitter: @CallTallahassee
Never miss a story: Subscribe to the Tallahassee Democrat using the link at the top of the page.


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Ask most people about their views on logistics, and their eyes are likely to glaze over. Talking about warehouses, supply chains and packages is hardly exciting stuff.
Ask an Asian real estate investor, however, and you’re likely to get a very different reaction.
Logistics assets have become one of the hottest plays in regional property markets. The region has witnessed rising consumption, growing middle-class populations and increasing smartphone usage – including mobile payment solutions over the past decade. These trends have sparked an explosion in e-commerce and manufacturing across the region.
That has necessitated more logistics assets, as individuals buy goods online and ask for them to be delivered somewhere in the real world. To support this need, companies have had to create and operate technology-enabled warehouses and storage facilities across key markets in Asia. The long term promise of these assets has attracted investors from around the world.
So far China, Japan, Korea and Australia have gained the most attention. But over the past 12 months several emerging Asia markets, including India and Southeast Asia, have started to pop up on the increasingly competitive logistics map too, offering more investment possibilities.
Jonathan Hsu, head of research of M&G Real Estate Asia, told AsianInvestor: “Over the next four to five years, e-commerce is forecast to grow by $100 billion in the core Asia Pacific ex-China [Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea].
"Research shows that for every $1 billion in e-commerce sales generated, about 100,000 square metres of [storage] space is needed. So that means we can expect about 10 million square metres of net demand from e-commerce players in the region."
SORTING AND SELECTING
The drive to build logistics-related infrastructure is visible across much of Asia, although each market sits at a different point of evolution.
Japan, which has experienced a drive to build modern high-tech logistics facilities to support manufacturing and export demand for close to a decade, has the region’s most advanced logistics market, followed by Australia and Korea.
However, China’s use of automation and robotics is taking warehousing and distribution to a new level of sophistication. One example was Cainiao, a Chinese logistics firm majority-owned by e-commerce king Alibaba, which opened a warehouse manned by more than 700 robots in the last quarter of 2018 to handle the huge sales wrought by Singles Day in November. A report by Forrester in September 2018 estimated that 502 million online Chinese shoppers would generate $1.1 trillion in e-commerce sales during the entire year.
No other market comes close to that scale, but logistics markets in India and Southeast Asia are also growing as manufacturing relocates from China.
“Markets such as Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam all have potential for growth given the scale of their markets [with their populations of around 100 million or more],” said Singapore-based Kang Puay-Ju, Asia-Pacific head of real estate at Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI).
According to a study by Google and Singaporean asset owner Temasek in November 2018, Southeast Asia’s e-commerce industry doubled its 2017 volume to reach $23 billion last year, while the number of online shoppers rose from 50 million in 2015 to 120 million.
“With more than 90% of Southeast Asians connecting to the internet primarily through their smartphones, this is one of the most mobile-first internet regions globally,” the report noted.
Those trends suggest demand for e-commerce and logistics-related infrastructure will only keep growing.
Investors looking to get exposure to the logistics industry typically do so via four avenues: listed and unlisted equities, and listed and unlisted debt.
“It really depends on the investor’s risk profile as to how they choose to invest,” said ASI’s Kang.
Investment returns vary greatly depending on the strategy and geographic focus. “Returns can go upwards from mid-7% (for core institutional markets such as Tokyo, Seoul and Singapore) to 10% for higher-risk tier-2 Chinese cities,” said Louise Kavanaugh, who heads Asia-Pacific real estate fund management at Nuveen, the investment management arm of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America.
“The composition of return profile depending on markets will also vary, from income (for developed markets) or capital value-driven (for higher risk, emerging markets). “Development projects could see higher returns – dependent on their risk profile,” added Hong Kong-based Kavanagh, estimating such projects could offer annual returns in the mid to high teens.
Investors in development strategies help to finance the building of new logistics facilities.
Several institutional investors have been willing to buy the assets directly or with partners. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is one. At the end of March 2018, the pension fund had invested about $15 billion of the $72.5 billion it holds in Asia Pacific in property markets stretching from Japan to Australia.
“We review our portfolio regularly to account for changes in market conditions and to enhance the quality of the overall portfolio,” said Jimmy Phua, head of real estate investments for Asia at CPPIB. “As such, we also regularly dispose assets that no longer meet our prevailing criteria.”
Logistics is CPPIB’s fastest-growing sector exposure both globally and within emerging markets. The fund targets private direct investments as it primary investment approach, usually in the form of joint ventures or club deals with experienced partners.
So far CPPIB has invested in logistics-related investments or JVs in markets such as Korea and China, and intends to raise its focus on Southeast Asia. “We are in the early phase of investing into Southeast Asia,” he told AsianInvestor. “As we gain experience, we would decide if we expand to more countries or concentrate on just a few. Our current focus in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.”
German insurer Allianz’s property investment arm also has big plans for logistics investments in Asia. “As a sector, logistics is one of our preferred real estate sectors globally. In Asia, it is even more relevant with all the structural and demographic changes taking place, along with the growth in e-commerce,” said Rushabh Desai, Asia-Pacific chief executive of Allianz Real Estate.
The insurer typically invests into logistics via funds in countries where assets have to be developed. “We select a fund manager with a proven track record and develop assets via the [logistics] fund,” said Desai. It typically holds such assets for three to five years.
When investing for the longer term, Allianz prefers stable (core) assets, which can offer steady cash yields, which the insurer might buy on its own or through joint ventures, he added. These assets could be held for anywhere between five to 10 years.
AREAS OF OPPORTUNITY
Like other institutional investors, Desai said he likes Japan, noting there is a “lot of demand for modern logistics facilities in areas such as greater Tokyo and greater Osaka”. He also pointed to a lot of opportunity in growth economies such as China, India and Indonesia.
In November, Allianz tied up with ESR, a logistics operator, owner and developer co-founded by private equity firm Warburg Pincus, to develop a $1 billion portfolio of logistics assets across eight cities in India. The sub-continent’s e-commerce market is expected to hit $84 billion by 2021, up from $24 billion in 2017, as its growing youth population enjoy more internet accessibility and rising incomes, according to a joint report by Deloitte and the Retail Association of India published in February.
Desai noted that some structural hurdles have also been resolved in recent years. One example is the introduction of India’s goods and services tax in 2017. The major reform has ushered in a uniform tax rate across the country, enabling freer movement of goods and brightening the outlook for logistics.
This story was adapted from a feature in the Spring 2019 edition of AsianInvestor magazine.


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Server Sales Decline in the Third Quarter
December 8, 2008 Timothy Prickett Morgan
Well, it didn’t take much of a crystal ball to figure out that this was going to happen. With the torrent of bad news coming out of the financial, banking, manufacturing, and retail sectors of the North American and European economies, and stock markets around the world freaking out, it will come as no surprise to most of us that server sales were off a bit in the third quarter as vendors slashed prices to try to move boxes.
The box counters at Gartner and IDC released their stats for server sales and shipments for the third quarter last week, and as usual, Gartner came out first with one set of public numbers diced and sliced one way, while IDC gave some details that Gartner doesn’t typically talk about. Both companies have models that let their customers see the server market by platform, server size, vendor, architecture, operating system, geography, and myriad other metrics, but you only get to see that data if you spend big bucks.
Let’s see what Gartner had to say first. The company estimates that on a worldwide basis, shipments of servers of all kinds and sizes rose by 4.4 percent to 2.32 million units, which is an awful lot of boxes. (I am getting old, I guess, because I can remember when they were called systems and putting 2 million boxes in the field for a year was a big deal.) That sounds good, particularly when you consider the state of the global economy lately, particularly in September, which was the last month of the quarter. But because of pricing pressure and delays in big iron purchases, aggregate server revenues globally fell by 5.4 percent to $12.72 billion.
Blame it on a slowdown in x64 and RISC-Itanium Unix boxes. “Server shipments grew in the third quarter, but the specter of constrained economies and tightened credit was felt in the revenue area,” explained Jeffrey Hewitt, a research vice president at Gartner who put out a statement accompanying the firm’s market stats. “What we’ve seen is larger system purchases in the Unix area put in check. At the same time x86 servers were able to maintain some shipment momentum, but lower overall average x86 server selling prices resulted in a drop in revenue in the quarter for this server type as well.”
The top five server makers, who accounted for just under 86 percent of total sales, all had revenue declines in the quarter. Some, because of shipment slumps (as was the case with IBM and is X64 and blade sales), and others, despite significant shipment increases (as was the case with Hewlett-Packard, which jacked up its shipments by 11.4 percent to more than 724,000 boxes in the quarter).
Gartner believes that IBM managed to edge out HP as the top breadwinner in the server biz in Q3, with $3.86 billion in total sales (down 4.2 percent) compared to HP’s $3.79 billion (down 3.9 percent). Dell was the number three supplier, and considerably behind these two with $1.5 billion in total server sales, a decline of 5.2 percent compared to the third quarter of 2007. Sun Microsystems has held the number four position in servers for nearly a decade now, and came in there again with $1.16 billion in sales, a decline of 13.7 percent. Clearly, the Unix hit has hit Sun hard, and IBM was able to maintain because its System z10 mainframe upgrade cycle got underway despite the bad economy. The Fujitsu-Siemens partnership, soon to be only Fujitsu now that Siemens is selling out its stake in the joint venture, had a 7.3 percent decline in server sales in the quarter to $616.8 million according to Gartner. All other vendors combined, which includes legions of whitebox makers as well as boutique rack and blade makers such as Verari Systems or Rackable Systems, venerable server makers NEC, Hitachi, and Bull, and supercomputer makers such as Cray and Silicon Graphics, accounted for $1.79 billion in sales, off 4.7 percent across all vendors.
Gartner doesn’t provide a lot of detail publicly, but does offer some Unix and X64 numbers. RISC and Itanium boxes running Unix accounted for $3.36 billion, down 10.8 percent. IBM’s Unix business was off 6.9 percent to $1.2 billion, and the good news for Big Blue is that it fell less than the Unix space at large and has a solid lead over HP and Sun, its chief Unix rivals. Sun’s Unix biz fell by 16.9 percent, to $963.8 million, while HP’s Unix biz fell by 10.6 percent, to $923.9 million. Fujitsu-Siemens was slammed, with Unix sales down 35 percent to just under $146 million–this despite product upgrades. On the X64 server front, Gartner said that such iron (regardless of form factor and operating system) accounted for $7.15 billion in revenues, down 6.6 percent. HP had $2.56 billion in sales, down 2.5 percent, and Dell came in at $1.5 billion, down 5.2 percent (as I said above, since Dell only sells X64 iron). IBM was slammed with 18.4 percent declines in its X64 server biz, falling to $1.12 billion in sales. Fujitsu-Siemens fell by 1.7 percent to $285.5 million, and Sun had a relative bright spot in its quarter, with a 5.6 percent increase in X64 sales, to just under $192 million. Other X64 vendors accounted for just under $1.5 billion in sales, down 6.9 percent as a group.
Not only are you ugly, but you smell bad, too.
The story coming out of the box counters at IDC about the third quarter’s server biz was not much different. IDC believes that server makers sold some $12.6 billion in machines in Q3, down 5.2 percent, and said that shipments only grew by 2.8 percent. IDC did not give a total server shipment number, but did say that it believes X64 server shipments, which make up the vast majority of shipments in the world, rose by 4 percent to 1.97 million units. The company added that X64 server sales declined by 6.6 percent to $6.9 billion. IDC said further that X64 sales in the United States fell by 12.2 percent in Q3, the biggest decline since the dot-com bust in 2001. In fact, IDC says that every region saw server sales declines except Latin America, which miraculously grew by 12.8 percent for the 13-week period. (Pity this is a tiny slice of the server racket.)
“The server market experienced significant deceleration in the third quarter with particular weakness in September. The slow down impacted a wide range of traditional server technologies with improved demand for blades and IBM System z notable exceptions,” said Matt Eastwood, the group vice president of enterprise platforms at IDC who puts together the server stats. “Many OEMs experienced significant pricing challenges in the quarter and revenue declines were experienced in all regions except Latin America and the Middle East and Africa (MEA). Enterprise budgets continue to face increased scrutiny as IT organizations of all types look to run their hardware harder and defer acquisitions wherever possible.”
One difference that is immediately apparent, but probably only significant if raises and bonuses at IBM and HP are pegged to market share stats, is that IDC pegs HP as the leader in server revenues in Q3, with $3.86 billion in sales, down 2 percent, compared to IBM, with $3.8 billion in sales, down 3.1 percent.
IDC also provides some insight into server platform sales by operating system. The company reckons that new machines sold for running Microsoft‘s Windows accounted for $5.1 billion in sales, down 5.1 percent and more or less in synch with the market at large. Windows servers accounted for nearly 41 percent of global server revenues in the quarter. Unix boxes accounted for $3.7 billion, or just under 30 percent of the server pie, after declining by 8.4 percent compared to the third quarter of 2007. Every size Unix box had revenue declines, according to IDC. Linux-based iron had a more modest 2.5 percent revenue decline, to $1.8 billion, in Q3, and IBM’s System z machines accounted for just under $1.2 billion in sales, up 25 percent. IDC did not give any data on Power Systems i and System i sales.
The company did give some idea about what happened on boxes of various price bands, however. The so-called volume systems market, which is for boxes that cost under $25,000, had a 7.2 percent revenue decline in the quarter, thanks to price pressure and representing the first revenue decline for volume servers in 14 quarters. The midrange segment (which is for machines that cost between $25,000 and $500,000) and where the i platform gets a lot of its sales and profits, had a 9.5 percent revenue decline. Big iron boxes, despite the large numbers of companies that were deferring server acquisitions, had a 4 percent revenue increase in Q3, thanks in large part to the mainframe upgrade cycle.


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U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly plunged to a 15-month low in March, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment revealed on Friday.
preliminary reading of the consumer sentiment, which records the figure
for the first half of a month, edged down to 71. 8 in March from 77.6
in the previous month. This is the lowest level since December 2011 and
far below economists' expectation of 77.5.
index gauging consumer expectations for six months from now, which more
closely projects the direction of consumer spending,How efficient and
environmentally friendly processing prepreg production
is important part of the mobile artificial aggregate processing system
will be greatly reduced as the traditional manual excavation of sand and
gravel processing system. also fell to 61.7 in March from 70.2 in
February. It is the lowest reading since November 2011.
index of current conditions, reflecting Americans' perceptions of their
financial situation and whether they consider it a good time to buy
big-ticket items like cars, dropped to 87.Vintage tubsAuto Accessories wholesalers5 in March from 89 a month ago.
index averaged 64.2 during the last recession from December 2007 to
June 2009, and 89 in the five years leading up to the recession.
Analysts said that the substantial decline in the consumer confidence was a result of increatyre equipmentssing
gasoline prices, higher payroll tax and the effects of 85 billion U.S.
dollars of federal spending cuts starting on March 1.Antique bath fixtures


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Cars.com CEO Alex Vetter: EV market yet to take off with consumers
Cars.com CEO Alex Vetter discusses how rising interest rates are impacting car loan demand and the electric vehicle market on ‘The Claman Countdown.’
Inflation may be easing, but auto costs are on the rise.
According to a recent report from Bankrate, the cost of full coverage auto insurance nationwide has hit $2,014 a year due in part to inflation, labor shortages and supply chain challenges. That's up nearly 14% from last year and accounts for 2.9% of the average household income.
Experts from the Insurance Information Institute don't see pressures on premium rates easing this year, either.
The newly released data comes just after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at a news conference that the central bank recognizes that the pace of inflation has cooled.
NEED CAR INSURANCE? 4 MOST IMPORTANT AUTO INSURANCE BASICS TO KNOW
However, the recent data from Bankrate's annual True Cost of Auto Insurance Report underscores how car owners aren't getting a break just yet.


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According to Bloomberg, "Redbox film-rental division is working to develop a subscription streaming service, setting up potential competition with Netflix Inc. and Hulu LLC."
Bloomberg also cites that Redbox has a partner with an "an existing digital player" already lined up. Given that Amazon has already announced its plans launch a subscription-based streaming program itself, that would seem like the obvious answer. But the obvious is never much fun, so maybe we're in for a real surprise.
However, Redbox hasn't announced price points or a launch date just yet. If Redbox really sticks to that $3.95 per month plan for unlimited streaming (compared to Netflix's $7.95 monthly fee for Watch Instantly), we'll have a real battle going.
Redbox already has 30,000 DVD rental kiosks nationwide, but the days of going out to rent a movie are all but gone. If Redbox wants to stay in the rental game, it's time to get that content online where Americans don't have to run around for it.


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NEW BERN, CRAVEN COUNTY - New jobs will be created in Craven County if commissioners pass a proposal to sell land to an expanding company.
According to Economic Development Director Timothy S. Downs, commissioners agreed Tuesday night to set a public hearing on Sept. 16. During the meeting, they will discuss selling two pieces of land in the Craven County Industrial Park to American Eagle Manufacturing, a company that makes conveyor belt accessories.
American Eagle Manufacturing wants to buy the 8 acres of land to expand its manufacturing operations, Downs said. The company has agreed to create 10 new jobs as part of a Small Business and Entrepreneurial Assistance grant it will use to build its new facility.
Since moving to New Bern, American Eagle Manufacturing has increased sales of its conveyor belt products by more than 200 percent, company officials said.
- Carteret Co. Sheriff's Office investigating murder-suicide
- One dead, two injured after early-morning shooting in New Bern
- Travelers out in bunches for Memorial Day weekend
- Dudley man shot, killed early Saturday; Goldsboro Police investigating
- Pine Knoll Shores officials ask public to take precautions during busy holiday


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Alexa Chung fashion backer is also Bella Freud investor
Fifty-year-old Dubens is notoriously publicity-shy, a status that may be hard to maintain once one of the world’s most photographed fashion celebrities launches her collection.
Chung had said last summer that she would be launching her own line but also said she had been told not to give any details of who was backing the launch.
While Oakley itself has no fashion investments, Dubens made his first fortune from the fashion sector after he linked with M&S heir Jonathan Sieff to sell heat-reactive colour-changing T-shirts, selling the business a few years later for £8m. He has also previously invested in Bella Freud’s company.
He told the New York Times this week that he is “a bit unorthodox” but is “passionate about backing young and new entrepreneurs” rather than “luxury or glamorous brands.”
However, he also told the newspaper that this would be his last fashion investment. “I don’t personally make investments in smaller companies any more,” he said. “Alexa is my last one.”
The Alexa Chung line launches in May and will be available in high-end stores such as MatchesFashion and Bergdorf Goodman at luxury level prices.
Copyright © 2022 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.


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Apple: Apple is closing this app and these web tools.
One year later Apple acquired the popular hyperlocal climate app Dark Sky, now plans to cut the service completely. According to a report from 9to5Mac, the application will be closed at the end of the year 2022. Dark sky Currently, several third-party weather applications use the API.
It was initially reported that the tech company would end the service by the end of 2021. However, Dark Sky ios The app and web tools will be available for another year, the report says.
Dark Sky has made changes to his blog recently. “Support for the Dark Sky API service for existing customers will continue until the end of 2022. The Dark Sky iOS app and website will also be available until the end of 2022,” reads the updated blog.
As mentioned above, Apple acquired the Dark Sky app in March 2020. The app plays an important role in iOS 14 weather forecasts. iOS 15, the company will add features like next-hour rush alerts, new layout, and new animated backgrounds.
The weather service had not previously said when its iOS and website will be shut down. The latest update suggests that the application could be closed for good. It is hoped that even if Dark Sky’s web applications and tools end, the technology can live on.


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The items, which included babies' clothes and dummies, were on sale at Zazzle — an online store that lets customers create and sell their own designs.
Each option in the range, which also included t-shirts, mugs, greeting cards and even wrapping paper, featured slogans too outrageous to repeat.
And with the 10th anniversary of the tot's disappearance just days away, the seller was offering a 15% discount across the entire collection.
Zazzle acts as a marketplace for thousands of independent sellers.
The seller offering the ghoulish gear went by an account named Limeyboy.
The items have now been removed from the online store after Daily Star Online approached the retailer for comment.
A spokeswoman for the company said: "We have removed the items as they are not aligned with our user agreement.
"Zazzle is an open marketplace where users and designers can upload their designs onto products for sale.
"So we encourage our community to maintain an open dialogue with us and bring offensive content to our attention."
The Zazzle user behind the items, who appears to be based in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, can still sell unrelated goods on the site.
It's not the first time ghouls have tried to cash in on the Madeleine McCann case — the same design was pulled from another website last year.
The tot disappeared from her bed in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007, and her fate remains an unexplained mystery.
Some say that she was trafficked into North Africa, with one woman telling Daily Star Online she saw Maddie in Marrakech, Morocco.
Others say she remained near the resort – retiree Andre Van Wyk reported a Madeleine McCann sighting just 14 miles away.
Missing-people hunter Frank Ahearn, asked for his view, encouraged cops to go back to the scene of the crime.
Zazzle, which reportedly boasts annual sales of $250million (£198m), says it aims to help people create “anything imaginable”.